Lighting attachment for golf clubs



April 2, 1957 R. w. BARRUS ETAL 2,787,470

LIGHTING ATTACHMENT FOR GOLF cwss Filed Nov. 4. 1 955 ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent LIGHTING ATTACHMENT FOR GOLF CLUBS Russell "WJBarrus,MaldenfiMass, and-Matthew A'itken, deceased, late of Brookline, Mass.,by Ruby M. Aitken, administratrix, Brookline, Mass.

Application November 4, 1955, Serial No. 544,968

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-186) This invention relates to an attachment designedfor illuminating a golf club head on which the attachment is removablysecured, so that a golf operator may view and correct his golf swing, inpracticing the golf swing.

An important object of the invention is to provide an illuminatingdevice of this type embodying lamps secured to the golf club head, abattery as a source of electricity supply, and a switch in an electriccircuit between the lamps and battery, the switch being so constructedand arranged that the circuit to the lamps will be automaticallycompleted, illuminating the path of travel of the club head whenexecuting the golf swing for the observation of the golf operator,during practice.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details ofconstructions and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fullydescribed and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changesmay be made in the construction and arrangement of parts withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the golf club head showing anattachment constructed in accordance with the invention, as securedthereto.

Fig. 2 is a fragmental elevational view of the shaft of a golf clubshowing the battery as clamped to the shaft of the club directly belowthe grip of the club.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the body portion of the attachment.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an exploded view of a tubular casing encasing the lamp bulbsof the attachment.

d Iliig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the switch supporting Fig. 7 is aperspective View of the switch arm of the device.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing in detail the reference character 5 indicates agolf club head, and the reference character 6 indicates the neck of thehead or hosel, in Which the shaft 7 is extended and secured, in theconventional manner.

The attachment forming the subject matter of the present invention,comprises a hollow body 8 which is preferably circular in formation,however it is to be understood that the configuration of the hollow bodymay be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Secured within the hollow body 8, in a disk 8' having threaded lampsockets 9 in which light bulbs 10 are threaded in the usual manner. Aninsulating disk 10 is secured to the lower surface of the disk 8' andhas openings 11' that register with the lamp sockets 9 to receive thecontact ends of said bulbs. Contact members 11 are secured to theinsulating disk with the contact 2,787,470 Patented Apt-.2, 19.57

the .circuitsto .said' light bulbs 10.

An electric circuit .is. ,provided and includes. the battery 12 that issecured to the shaft 7 of theclub. The-electric circuit also includesthe wires 13 and 14 that conmeet with the battery 12, the wire 13 beingconnected with contacts 11, through 14 which is insulated from disc 8'while the wire 14 connects with the switch arm 20, at 20'. Switch arm 20is insulated from disc 8, as shown in Fig. 8, and contact 22 is normallyin circuitbreaking position relative to disc 8 as shown in Fig. 4.

In order to protect the lamp bulbs 10, tubular housings 15 are providedand secured to the upper wall 16 of the cap 26 which closes the top ofthe body, and each tubular housing is formed with a reduced end 16providing an annular inner shoulder 17 against which a colored lens 18rests and is held by the tubular member 17'. This reduced end of eachtubular housing extends a substantial distance beyond the colored lens18, as better shown by Fig. 4 of the drawing to project light raysupwardly from the lamps 10 so the club head will be clearly visibleduring the execution of a golf swing.

The reference character 19 indicates a switch that is in the circuitwith the wires 13 and 14, and controls the circuit to the lamp bulbs 10.

This switch 19 is secured to a supporting disk 8 by securing member 20which is insulated from disc 8' and operates to complete the circuit tothe lamps, when the golf club is being swung in executing a practicegolf swing. The switch arm 20 is exceptionally sensitive and and isprovided with a weight 21 adjacent to the contact end 22' thereof sothat the arm 20 will be moved to cause contact 22 to engage said disk 8'completing a circuit to the lamps, with the swinging of the club inexecuting a golf swing, but moved to break the circuit to the lamps whenthe club is brought to rest.

In mounting the battery 12, a clamp 21 is provided Which clamps thebattery 12 to the club shaft 7, as shown by Fig. 2 of the drawing, therebeing provided a bolt 22 and nut 23 operating thereon, to move the clampinto clamping relation with the club shaft to securely hold the same inplace.

From the foregoing it will be seen that due to the construction shownand described, I have provided a lamp attachment which may be readilyand easily secured to the head of a golf club.

The reference character 23 represents an arm which is bolted to thebottom of the hollow body 8 and is also bolted to the rear edge of theclub head 5. Another arm 24 is secured to the opposite side of thehollow body 8 the arm 24 being provided with a split band 25 that isclamped around the neck 6 of the club head, firmly holding theattachment to the club head.

What is claimed is:

An illuminating device for attachment to a golf club having a head, ahosel and a shaft, said device comprising a housing formed of a bottomwall, a cylindrical side wall, a bracket secured to said bottom wall, asplit clamp carried by said bracket for clamping engagement about thehosel of said head, a disc-shaped contact plate fixed in said housing, adisc-shaped insulating plate fixed in said housing on the inner side ofsaid contact plate, said contact plate having openings, light bulbsthreaded into said openings and having the center contacts thereofprojecting below said insulating plate, resilient contacts 3 on saidhousing, upstanding nipples carried by said cap References Cited in thefile of this patent engaging about said light bulbs, each nipple havinga re- UNITED STATES PATENTS duced outer portion forming an annularshoulder, a disc-shaped light transmitting member in each nipple $53 3fi g bearing against said shoulder, a battery casing means 5 225,151 Day 1940 clamping said casing to the shaft, a wire connecting one21626186 3 S 1952 side of the battery with said switch blade, and asecond eea wire connecting the other side of said battery with saidFOREIGN PATENTS resilient contacts.

10 223,044 Great Britain Oct. 16, 197A

